Wildfires that have blackened hundreds of thousands of acres and forced the closure of national forests showed no sign of slowing Wednesday as strong winds again fanned the flames of several fires in northern Colorado.

The East Troublesome fire, which has been burning for the past week in Grand County west of Lake Granby, blew up to 125,602 acres Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

The fire prompted urgent evacuation notices for the town of Grand Lake — population 500 — as fire crews saw containment shrink by more than half.

“Evacuate immediately!” the Grand County Office of Emergency Management said in one all-caps tweet sent at 7:30 p.m.  Residents in all areas west of Highway 34 and north of mile marker 3 were directed to leave without delay.  

An evacuation center was opened at the Inn at Silver Creek in Granby.

All of Rocky Mountain National Park was also closed to visitors, although the fire had not crossed into the park, according to national park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson. Trail Ridge Road was closed to westbound travel at Rainbow Curve because of heavy smoke, Patterson said. 

High winds grew the blaze more than six times its size in 12 hours overnight making it the fourth largest fire in Colorado history. Containment is now down to 5%.

“It’s got a lot of fuel, and a lot of wind behind it,” said Alexis Kimbrough, deputy emergency manager for Grand County. “It moved really fast today.”

The Cameron Peak fire, the state’s largest ever, raging just west of Fort Collins in the Roosevelt National Forest, grew a few thousand acres to 206,667 acres as of Wednesday, while containment held at 55%, officials said in a Facebook post.

Winds reached 50 mph Tuesday night with no letup Wednesday, the post read.

Firefighters used heavy equipment to protect structures in an area that flared up between Storm Mountain and The Retreat, the post said. Despite the strong winds that have grounded aircraft in days past, ground crews were aided by nine helicopters and tankers.

Near Boulder, the CalWood fire, which sprung up Sunday and forced the hurried evacuation of Jamestown, reached 9,978 acres as of Wednesday. Firefighters managed to connect fire lines, increasing containment to 24%.

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The Lefthand Canyon fire, also burning outside Boulder near Ward, is estimated at 460 acres. Firefighters strengthened lines around entire perimeter Wednesday and currently have 43% containment, according to fire officials. A red flag warning was issued in the vicinity of the CalWood and Lefthand Canyon fires Wednesday with winds up to 30 mph and temperatures in the 60s forecast.

The fires sent up billows of smoke that could be seen across northern Colorado, officials said. Boulder and Denver residents were advised to limit driving Tuesday so as not to contribute to the already poor air quality from the smoke, the Associated Press reported.

Thousands of Larimer County, Weld, and Jamestown residents have been evacuated or put on alert that they might to flee their homes in past weeks.

In addition, a large swath of forest land was temporarily closed near Colorado’s populated Front Range region to help firefighters battle wildfires and prevent new ones from starting on the very dry terrain.

The closures of land in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in five counties went into effect at midnight on Tuesday.

“The number of large fires and extreme fire behavior we are seeing on our forests this year is historic,” Forest Supervisor Monte Williams said in a statement. “These temporary closures are necessary to protect the public and our firefighters, and we will keep them in place until conditions improve and we are confident that the risk of new fire starts has decreased.”

Denver Parks and Recreation quickly followed suit and closed all Denver Mountain Parks properties in Clear Creek County, according to a press release.

A drastic change in the weather is predicted this weekend, with much colder temperatures and snow in the forecast.

Several inches of snow are expected Saturday night through Sunday , said Jim Kalina, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Boulder. 

Even a short snowstorm could slow the fires’ growth, help dampen the areas, and keep more fires from starting, said Kimbrough.

But it won’t extinguish the massive blazes that have been unstoppable so far.

“I don’t think one day of snow will put out Colorado’s fires,” Kimbrough said. “I don’t think that’s realistic.”

The Associated Press and Gazette reporter O’Dell Isaac contributed to this story.

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